Guest preferences worth writing down

A regular arrives for her fortnightly dinner. She always sits by the window, drinks the same Rioja, has a mild intolerance to garlic and is slightly hard of hearing, so she prefers the quieter end of the room. The server who usually looks after her knows all of this. Tonight, that server is on holiday, and the new server seats her by the kitchen door, recommends the garlic prawns and has to repeat the specials three times over the noise.

Nothing went badly wrong, but the regular leaves feeling like a stranger in a place she has been coming to for years. Everything the venue knew about her lived in one person's head, and when that person was away, it disappeared.

Guest preferences are the details that turn a good visit into a personal one. Recorded once, where the whole team can see them, they let any member of staff look after a guest as well as the person who knows them best. This guide covers which preferences are worth writing down, how to record them so they are used, and where the line is. Every venue and figure in it is an example.

Most venues know a great deal about their regulars, but the knowledge lives in the heads of a few experienced staff. That works until those staff are off, leave or are simply busy elsewhere. Then the venue forgets, and the guest notices.

Writing preferences down, in one place the team can see, turns individual knowledge into the venue's knowledge. A new server can look after a regular on their first night; a host can seat them at their favourite table without asking.

It also protects the guest. An allergy written down reaches the kitchen whoever is working; one held in a single server's memory may not.

A preference is worth writing down if it changes what the team does. "Prefers the window table" changes where the host seats them. "Drinks the house Rioja" changes what the server offers. "Hard of hearing, prefers a quiet table" changes the seating and how the server speaks. "Likes to chat with the chef" changes what the kitchen might do.

A preference that changes nothing is not worth recording. "Wore a blue jacket" is trivia. Ask of every note: will this help someone serve this guest better next time?

The most important preferences are not preferences at all: allergies and intolerances. They belong in their own place on the guest's profile, clearly marked, so they reach the booking, the table and the kitchen ticket every time.

Record them precisely: which allergen, and how serious. "Nut allergy, severe" tells the kitchen far more than "no nuts". Our guide to allergy notes: the record that must not fail covers how to record them so they never get lost.

Dietary needs come next: vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher, gluten free and so on. They change what the server recommends and what the kitchen can offer. Record them on the guest's profile, separately from allergies, because a dietary choice and an allergy are handled differently.

A guest whose dietary needs are remembered does not have to explain them every visit. That small thing makes a great deal of difference to how welcome they feel.

Many regulars have a favourite table, or a kind of table: by the window, in a quiet corner, away from the door, near the bar, in a booth. Record it, and let the host use it when the guest books.

Seating preferences can be practical too: a guest who needs a table with space for a wheelchair or a pram, a guest who cannot manage stairs, a guest who prefers to sit facing the room. These matter even more than favourites, because getting them wrong can make the visit uncomfortable.

Drinks preferences are among the easiest to use: the wine they always order, how they take their coffee, the cocktail they like, the water they prefer. A server who offers "your usual Rioja?" makes a regular feel at home immediately.

Favourite dishes are useful too, especially if they come off the menu. A guest whose favourite dish has been replaced can be told before they order and offered something similar, rather than discovering it is gone.

Accessibility needs deserve careful recording: hearing loss, low vision, mobility needs, a guide dog, a need for step-free access or a particular kind of chair. Record what helps, in practical terms: "Prefers a quiet table and to have specials written down."

These notes change the visit more than almost anything else, and guests who need them are often reluctant to ask every time. A venue that remembers is a venue they will trust.

Birthdays and anniversaries are worth recording if the guest has shared them, so the team can mark the occasion when the guest books close to the date. A candle on a dessert or a handwritten card can make an evening.

Record only what the guest told you. A date found elsewhere and used without asking can feel intrusive rather than kind.

Some guests have clear preferences about how they are served: some like to chat, others want quiet efficiency; some want the bill brought as soon as the mains are cleared, others like to linger; some like to know the kitchen's story, others just want dinner.

A short note helps: "Likes to be left alone, prefers quick service" or "Enjoys talking about the wine list". It lets any server pitch the service right from the first moment.

Some guests book for groups or occasions more than for themselves: the colleague who organises the team's monthly lunch, the friend who books the birthday dinners, the family member who books the anniversary. Their preferences cover the group as much as themselves.

Record what helps with those bookings: the table that suits the group, the set menu they chose last time, how they like the bill handled, whether the group includes children or guests with particular needs. The next booking becomes far easier for both sides.

Note the guest who organises, too. Making the organiser's life easy is one of the best ways to win the group's next booking.

Some preferences are about how a guest wants to hear from you: whether they are happy to receive emails, how often, about what, and whether they would rather be phoned about their booking than emailed. Respect them carefully.

Marketing preferences have legal weight in many countries, so record them accurately, with the guest's consent where it is needed. Practical preferences, such as preferring a phone call about a booking change, are simpler but just as worth keeping.

The key to useful guest profiles is recording each preference once, in the right place, so it appears wherever it is needed. A preference written on a booking note is forgotten when the booking is over; one saved to the guest's profile appears on every future booking.

Agree where each kind of preference goes: allergies and dietary needs in their own fields, table and drink preferences in the profile's preferences, the rest in a short note. Our guide to booking notes the whole team will actually read covers the difference between notes for one visit and notes for every visit.

Guest tags are short labels on a profile: regular, VIP, local, wine lover, celebrates birthdays. They help the team spot guests at a glance and group them for campaigns.

Tags only work if everyone uses them the same way. Agree a short list, define what each one means and stop people inventing new ones on the spot. A tag that means something different to every member of staff is worse than no tag.

Decide who can add and change preferences. Usually, anyone who serves guests can add a preference or a note, because they are the ones who learn them. Changes to allergies should be checked with the guest, because a mistake there is dangerous.

Make it part of the routine: a server who learns something useful about a guest adds it to the profile before the end of the shift, while they remember.

Some preferences are observed rather than told: a guest who always moves to the window, always sends back the bread, always orders a second coffee. Observed preferences can be useful, but they deserve more care than told ones, because the guest did not choose to share them.

Record observations that help you serve the guest better, written neutrally: "Usually asks for the window table." Avoid observations that feel like surveillance or that the guest might find odd to see written down.

When in doubt, ask. "I noticed you like the window table; shall we keep it for you next time?" turns an observation into a preference the guest has agreed to.

Preferences are only useful if the team sees them at the right moment. The host should see a guest's table preference and any accessibility needs when the guest books and when they arrive. The server should see drinks preferences and dietary needs when they greet the table.

Make looking at the profile part of the routine: the host checks the evening's bookings before service, and the server glances at each table's notes before greeting it. Our guide to guest profiles your floor team will trust covers making profiles worth looking at.

Personalisation at its best feels like being remembered by a friend; at its worst, it feels like being watched. The difference lies in what you use and how.

Use what the guest has told you, in ways that make their visit better: their usual table, their favourite wine, their allergy. Avoid using things they did not tell you, or mentioning details that feel too personal in front of their companions. "Lovely to see you again" is warm; "I see you were here with someone else last week" is not.

Preferences are not only for the floor. The kitchen benefits from knowing a guest's allergies and dietary needs, and sometimes their favourite dishes, so a special can be offered. The bar benefits from knowing a regular's usual drink. The host benefits from knowing who prefers which table.

Make sure each part of the team sees the preferences it needs, at the moment it needs them: the host when seating, the server when greeting, the kitchen on the ticket, the bar when the drinks order comes in.

A preference that only the floor sees helps only half the visit.

Preferences change. A guest who once drank red now prefers white; a regular who needed a high chair no longer does; a guest's allergy has been diagnosed as more serious. Check preferences now and then, gently: "Still the Rioja tonight?"

Remove preferences that are no longer true. An out-of-date note is worse than none, because the team acts on it.

Some things should never be written on a guest's profile: opinions about their appearance, guesses about their personal life, comments about their behaviour that you would not want them to read, or sensitive details they did not share for a reason. Our guide to notes you should not keep about a guest covers where the line is.

A good test: would you be comfortable if the guest read this note over your shoulder? If not, do not write it.

The best way to learn preferences is to ask. "Do you have a favourite table?" "Is there anything we should know to make your visit comfortable?" "Any allergies or dietary needs?" Most guests are happy to tell you, and pleased to be asked.

Ask at booking, at the greeting or after a few visits, when a guest is clearly becoming a regular. Record what they say, and thank them.

New staff benefit most from recorded preferences, because they do not yet know the regulars. A new server who can read a regular's preferences before greeting the table can welcome them as warmly as someone who has served them for years.

Show new staff where preferences are recorded and how to read them, on their first day. Encourage them to add what they learn, too: new staff often notice things that long-serving staff have stopped seeing.

A team where everyone reads and adds to preferences builds a venue that remembers its guests whoever is working.

The effect of recording preferences shows in the guests. Regulars come back more often, mention feeling looked after in their feedback and stay loyal when staff change. Look for comments like "they remembered my usual" or "they knew about my allergy without asking".

Look at the other side too: fewer allergy questions repeated at every visit, fewer regulars seated at the wrong table, fewer complaints from guests who felt like strangers. Those are the problems recorded preferences solve.

Sometimes a guest asks the venue to forget something, or to delete their details altogether. Respect it promptly. Remove the preference or the note they asked about, or, if they ask, their whole profile, in line with the data protection rules where you trade.

A guest who asks you to forget an allergy needs particular care: confirm that they no longer have it, rather than simply deleting a safety record. In every other case, the guest's wish is enough.

Handling these requests gracefully tells guests that the venue holds their details for their benefit, which makes them more willing to share.

Recorded preferences can shape the menu as well as the service. If many regulars have the same dietary need, the menu may need more choice for it. If a dish appears in many profiles as a favourite, it is worth keeping, or bringing back. If many guests prefer a particular wine, the list should never run out of it.

Look at the preferences across all your guests every few months, not only one guest at a time. The patterns show what your best guests value, which is useful when planning changes.

Used this way, guest preferences become a quiet guide to what the venue should keep doing.

An invented bistro relies on two long-serving servers who know every regular. When one of them leaves, the bistro realises how much it has lost: regulars are seated at the wrong tables, offered the wrong wines and asked about allergies they mentioned years ago.

The bistro starts recording preferences on each guest's profile: allergies and dietary needs in their own fields, table and drink preferences, accessibility needs and a short note on how they like to be served. The remaining long-serving server spends a few shifts adding what she knows. The host checks the evening's bookings for notes before service.

Within a month, new servers are greeting regulars with their usual drinks and seating them at their favourite tables. One regular tells the owner the bistro feels like it did when she first started coming.

In servearound, a guest's allergies and dietary needs are saved to their profile from the booking, and they show as a flag on the reservation list, on the table the guest sits at and at the head of the kitchen ticket. The profile also holds the guest's drink preferences, tags, birthday and notes from the team, each recorded with its author and date, alongside their visit history and any feedback they gave.

When a guest books, staff see their number of visits, their last visit, their notes, their preferences and their allergens on the booking, and tables can be marked VIP. Taking a booking needs only a name and a number, so the staff who book tables can find and add guests, while the full profile is for the roles you give it to. See Guest CRM and the reservations module.

Any that change what the team does: allergies, dietary needs, table and seating preferences, drinks, accessibility needs, occasions and how the guest likes to be served.

On the guest's profile, so they appear on every future booking, not only on one booking note.

In their own clearly marked place, precise about the allergen and how serious it is.

Spotting guests at a glance and grouping them, as long as everyone uses the same short list.

Make checking the evening's bookings and each table's notes part of the routine before service.

When it uses things the guest did not share, or mentions details too personal for the moment.

Check them gently now and then, and remove any that are no longer true.

Anything you would not want the guest to read over your shoulder.

Guest preferences turn a good visit into a personal one, but only if they are written down where the whole team can see them. Record allergies and dietary needs in their own places, then table and seating preferences, drinks, accessibility needs, occasions and how the guest likes to be served, each once, on the guest's profile.

Agree a short list of guest tags, make checking the profiles part of the routine before service, use what guests told you in ways that make their visit better, keep preferences current and never write anything you would not want the guest to read.